Improvement in book-covers



UNITED STATEs PATENT OEEIoE.

CHARLES EGKHARD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN BOOK-COVERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. A216,318, dated Juno10, 1879 i application filed lllarch 3, 1879.

To all 'whom 'it may concern: I

Be it known that I, CHARLES EGKHAED, of the city, county, and State ofNew York, have invented an Improvementl in Book-Covers, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention is more especially designed for school-books, which, fromthe exceptionally hard usage to which they are exposed, commonly havetheir corners bruised and destroyed long before the printed portions areseriously impaired.

It comprises a stiff boek-cover made with rounded corners, recessed andrabbetcd upon their peripheries, and fitted with correspondingly-curvedmetallic shields, which are U- shaped in their cross-section, and havetheir external surfaces flush with the adjacent surfaces of the coverand their outer edges flush with the adjacent edges of said cover.

The rounded corners present no salient point for blunting or abrasion;the metal protects the weaker material of which the cover itself isformed; and the shields being countersunk ilush with the surfaces andedges ofthe cover, no salient edges are presented against which forceaccidentally or inischievously applied can be exerted to push theshields from their places.

Figure 1 is a side view of a book or bound volume the cover of which ismade according to my invention. Fig. 2 is an edge view of the same. Fig.3 is a detail view in cross-section of one of the curved metallicshields. Fig. 4 is a detail view of one of the recessed rounded cornersof the cover.

The coverA is made of board or other suitably stiff material, and may bebacked upon the book in any appropriate way. The outer corners of thecover are rounded oi' into semicircular form, and have affixed upon themthe metallic shields B, of corresponding curvature. These shields aremade of sheet metal, are U- shaped in transverse section, as shown inFig. 3, and are clasped upon the peripheries of the rounded cornersaforesaid,.the said peripheries being rabbeted, as shown in Fig. 3, sothat the sides of the shields are let in to bring their surfaces flushwith the ilat adjacent surfaces of the cover. Moreover, the edges ofthecover, at the rounded corners thereof, where the shields are applied,are recessed or cut away, as shown in Fig. 4, to enable the outermost orcircumferential edges of the shields to come flush with the adjacentedges of the cover, as more clearly shown in Fig. 1. The shields areretained in place by being tightly compressed upon' the material of thecover passed into their interior when they are applied in place. 1 donot claim hat angular plates applied to the external surfaces ofbook-covers, and projecting beyond the said surfaces and the edges ofthe books, as is sometimes done with costly bindings, said devices beingopen to all the objections which my invention overcomessuch, forexample, as presenting sharp hard corners, more or less dangerous underthe handling of young children, heavy and clumsy if applied to books forschool-room use, too expensive in production and application for useupon that class of books necessarily sold at a low price, and withalliable to be knocked off even with only moderately-rough usage; but,

What I do claim as my invention is- The herein-described stiffbook-cover, having rounded, recessed, and rabbeted corners, andfurnished with the correspondingly-curved metallic shields B, which areU-shaped in their cross-section and fixed flush with the adjacentsurfaces and edges of the cover A, all substantially as and for thepurpose herein specified.

GHAS. ECKHARD.

Witnesses:

W. R. WHITNEY, H. F. PARKER.

